Death toll in Canada rail crash up to 28

The death toll from the Canada rail disaster has risen to 28 after four more bodies were discovered. Source: AAP

THE death toll from the Lac-Megantic train disaster has risen to 28 after four more bodies were pulled from rubble of the devastated Canadian town.

A further 22 people remain missing and presumed dead after the rail disaster, Quebec police said on Friday, as accident investigators continue to comb through the destruction.

A spokesman from the coroner's office added they have now identified eight of the 28 bodies, up from just one earlier.

Part of a train made up of 72 tank cars loaded with crude oil derailed in the early hours of Saturday, July 6, in Lac-Megantic, near the Quebec-Maine border, igniting a huge explosion that laid waste to the centre of the lakeside town.

Police working in the disaster zone have had "a great deal of difficulty" because of strong petrol fumes, Quebec provincial police spokesman Michel Forget said.

"These are the places where there is a much denser concentration of oil. So, when we lift pieces, these fumes" reach insupportable limits for the investigators, he said.

"We have had therefore to review our strategy and deploy to other spots," Forget explained, emphasising that "the ground is contaminated with oil in some places."

Police are examining "different measures to ensure ventilation to make sure the work can continue" as efficiently as possible.

The approximately 200 police on the scene, including 60 investigators, will be reinforced in the coming days by crime scene technicians from Montreal and Quebec City "in order to accelerate the work," he added.

Earlier, investigation official Jean Laporte said the Lac-Megantic crash was "extremely likely the most devastating rail accident in the history of Canada."

The US transportation safety agency would also work with the investigators, Laporte added.

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Local ballots for Labor preselection

LABOR will hold local ballots for preselection in five seats vacated by former prime minister Julia Gillard and several of her senior ministers.

The national executive decided on Saturday the rank and file process would apply for preselecting candidates for Ms Gillard's Melbourne seat of Lalor, as well as Rankin (Queensland), Kingsford-Smith and Charlton (NSW) and Hotham (Victoria).

Under special arrangements, all the preselections will be finished by Saturday, July 27.

The national executive also ruled to remove any obstacles for eligibility for Joanne Ryan, Lisa Clutterham and Julie Ann Evans to contest the preselection in Lalor.

However, Ms Clutterham announced earlier on Saturday she had withdrawn her preselection nomination.

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Abbott ventures into Rudd homeland

TONY Abbott has nudged a kid out of the way during a schoolyard game of footy.

The federal opposition leader, who's known for his competitive streak, visited a Catholic college in Kevin Rudd's electorate on Friday.

He spent time on the field with students and had just retired to the sidelines when the ball again caught his eye.

As he charged off again in quick pursuit, a skinny young kid in a wide-brimmed hat got in the way.

With a sidestep to rival Benji Marshall, Mr Abbott nudged the boy aside leaving the student with his hands on his hips and looking slightly miffed.

The visit was marked by another amusing moment as the would-be prime minister posed for photos with students at the library.

Behind the press pack, one of his staffers locked his eyes and fervently pointed to her brilliant smile, like a stage-mum trying to elicit a winning grin from her offspring.

Mr Abbott's own media antics didn't stop him from taking a dig at Mr Rudd's.

"It's all about managing the media, it's not about running the country," he said.

"That's the whole point with Mr Rudd. He's not interested in governing, he's interested in celebrity."

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Body found in SA backyard

Origin agony as Gallen ruled out

UPDATE: WHEN Paul Gallen made an early morning call to Laurie Daley today, the NSW coach knew he would be without his skipper for Origin III.

Free rent is over for ALP relative

EXCLUSIVE: THE brother-in-law of former Labor minister Laurie Brereton has enjoyed a free beachside tenancy at Barrenjoey Lighthouse for 18 years ... until now.

Aussie 'Robin Hood' jailed in US

COREY Donaldson hoped to spark a revolution against US banks, but faces more than five years in the American federal jail system for a brazen robbery.

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Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas

PENALTIES for illegal logging in NSW forests should be 10 times higher to ensure koala habitats are preserved, the state opposition says.

Forestry Corporation of NSW was fined a total of $900 last week after being found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats in the Royal Camp State Forest near Casino on three separate occasions last year.

Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley says the "paltry" fine would not deter future illegal logging.

"As a state we should be doing everything we can to protect our dwindling population of koalas," Mr Foley said.

"Are we so indifferent to their plight that the only place they will be in a few years is in captivity?"

Mr Foley has called on the O'Farrell government to support a private member's bill, now being debated in the upper house, to increase penalties for illegal forestry activities.

This would see maximum fines raised from $22,000 to $220,000, with the possibility of two years in prison.

"Increasing penalties by tenfold will help address the exceedingly low penalties for illegal forestry operations and the forestry record on complying with environmental laws," Mr Foley said.

He said forestry penalties fell well below those for other environmental breaches, where fines of $1.1 million can be levied for offences such as polluting a waterway and illegal land clearing.

North East Forest Alliance spokesman Dailan Pugh echoed the call for greater penalties, saying there is currently no incentive for loggers to do the right thing.

"They're taking dozens of trees out of the koala high-use areas and they're making a lot of money out of them, and the fine's nothing.

"It's not even one tree."

Comment is being sought from the Forestry Corporation of NSW.

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Qld jobless rate soars to 6.4pc

QUEENSLAND'S jobless rate is at its highest level since October 2003 after rising to 6.4 per cent.

The Sunshine State has the second highest jobless rate after Tasmania.

It has risen by half a percentage point in June to 6.4 per cent, well above the national average of 5.7 per cent.

Comment is being sought from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

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NT 'stonewalling' on schools plan: Rudd

Kevin Rudd (L) can't understand why the NT government is walking away from extra school funding. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has accused the Northern Territory government of "stonewalling" on negotiations for the federal government's better schools plan.

Conservative governments in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have yet to sign up to the new school funding scheme, with a deadline looming on Sunday.

Mr Rudd urged the NT government on Wednesday to be "fair dinkum" about securing more funding for their schools.

"I still have stonewalling from the Northern Territory government as to whether they think this is a good idea," he told reporters in Darwin.

"I don't know what's going on up here but in previous times if a prime minister of Australia came to Darwin and said 'I want to invest $300 million in your schools' they would take probably about 45 seconds to get an immediate and positive response."

While he acknowledges there may be real policy concerns for the NT government, Mr Rudd says he can't understand why they're "walking away" from more money.

"They're constantly saying they're cash strapped up here," Mr Rudd said.

"Well, there's $300 million to build better schools to get better outcomes for our kids."

Tasmania on Tuesday joined NSW, the ACT and South Australia in agreeing to the new schools funding system.

Federal Education Minister Bill Shorten says Tasmania's decision means that 63 per cent of school children will receive extra funding.

He is optimistic the other jurisdictions will also sign up because "this is a good idea".

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne says the coalition will keep Labor's school improvement plan only if a majority of states and territories are included.

If not, the coalition will "roll over the current system in 12 months while we sort out the disarray and the mess Labor has created", Mr Pyne told ABC radio.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott accused the government of rushing through its education reforms and negotiating with the states with "a gun to their head".

He said the Liberals would only change the system if it was affordable and they were confident there was a better system to replace it.

"We don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with the existing system," he said.

"We will change the system when we feel confident we have an affordable improvement and I'm far from confident that what we have proposed now is either an improvement or affordable."

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